• On The Oathkeepers and The Three Percenters see : Meet the ‘Patriots’ (Southern Poverty Law Centre).
• Ralph Cerminara’s ‘Australian Defence League’ (ADL) — which has declared itself to be in alliance with the UPF — is at WAR! with another anti-Muslim mob called the ‘Patriots Defence League of Australia’ (PDLA). According to Cerminara, the PDLA (and some bloke called Steven Skinner) are traitorous dogs, and he’s published a Facebook page — titled, fittingly enough, ‘Patriot Traitors & Dogs’ — outlining why he has beef with these other patriotik folk.
• Sometime last week, a cheeky monkey put some posters up at Doherty’s gym in Frankston, alerting gym-goers to the fact that UPF leader Blair Cottrell enjoys flexing his Aryan muscles there. Curiously, Cottrell responded by commenting Lol why don’t you just come to my house you little bitches? It’s only down the road from this gym you vandalized. Yawn before posting a photo of himself with a supportive staff member standing next to the posters. Presumably, this means Doherty’s is happy to have neo-Nazis train at their facilities.
Last night Facebook removed this cartoon — by award-winning Australian cartoonist David Pope — from my blog page on the basis that it is against ‘community standards’.
It had reached about 250,000 users and been shared almost 2,000 times.
Above : One of a small number of patriotik boneheads at the rally.
Fascist groupuscule the United Patriots Front organised an anti-Muslim rally in Bendigo yesterday which attracted approximately 2-300 supporters, a large crowd of onlookers, and a rally in opposition of approximately the same size (if somewhat smaller). In both cases, many attending were from outside Bendigo.
There were several clashes on the day, with media accounts paying particular attention to an attempt by the UPF to break the police lines which had been established in order to separate the two mobs. (The largely unsuccessful attempt to do so appears to have been prompted by vision of a bloke up a pole trying to set fire to the Australian flag.) Police deployed capsicum spray in order to subdue the UPF and several of its members, including neo-Nazi spokesperson Blair Cottrell, were affected. (Note: ‘Patriots’ received a dose of the half-strength direct aerosol spray and not the full-strength chemical foam deployed against anti-racists on July 18.)
Otherwise: according to VicPol they made no arrests (though several folks were temporarily detained); they also stated that yesterday’s events involved the biggest operation VicPol has staged outside the Melbourne CBD; one lone ‘patriot’ pulled a knife on counter-protesters after the main demonstration had dispersed and as folks were moving from Town Hall to Trades Hall. (He was told to shoo — one of a handful of such incidents.)
A few general comments:
• The Bendigo rally was the largest of the three events the UPF has organised, having debuted in Richmond on May 31 and joined with Reclaim Australia to rally in Melbourne on July 18;
• The UPF was able to build upon a small but significant anti-Muslim base in Bendigo and to attract a large number of non-locals to join with them in an expression of solidarity;
• Those addressing the anti-Muslim rally included Melbourne-based UPF leaders Cottrell and (fundamentalist Christian) Chris Shortis and Bendigo local Julie Hoskin. Local councillor Elise Chapman also put in an appearance, as did Sydney-based Ralph Cerminara (Australian Defence League) and Kim Vuga (Go Back To Where You Came From) and Brisbane resident Scott Moerland (Rise Up Australia Party);
• Danny Nalliah/Catch the Fire Ministries/Rise Up Australia Party seems not to have attended;
• Obviously, the mosque, having received council approval, will go ahead (see also : Muslims still feel welcome in Bendigo despite anti-Islam rally, says mayor, Patrick Hatch, The Age, August 30, 2015);
• A ‘global’ rally against Islam has been slated for October 10. Originally touted as involving anti-Muslim activists attending their local mosques, currently the main goal appears to be to assemble in Canberra.
The Department of Incarceration & Bloody Policing Immigration & Border Protection organised a media event @ 2pm @ Flinders Street station in Melbourne today in order to celebrate the arrival of ‘Australian Border Force’.
1) West Heidelberg is the stomping ground of United Patriots Front (UPF) leader Neil Erikson;
2) These stickers have been distroed around Melbourne for a couple of years;
3) In addition to West Heidelberg they’ve been spotted in Abbottsford, Ascot Vale, Belgrave, Brunswick, Coburg, Collingwood, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, Moonee Ponds, Northcote, Prahran, Preston, Richmond, South Yarra, Strathmore and elsewhere. Generally speaking, they appear along public transport routes;
4) C18 in Melbourne emerged as a project of Creatard Patrick O’Sullivan. The photo below shows O’Sullivan and several of his comrades;
5) Stickers produced by C18 and featuring the slogan ‘Support your local skinheads’ (sic) were previously distributed in Perth in 2012/2013. See : Blood & Honour Boneheads Busted for Bad Stickers in Perth (August 2013);
6) C18/Blood & Honour is to be confused with B&H/Southern Cross Hammerskins. The two groups are rivals;
7) C18 in Melbourne is part of a broader network of neo-Nazi activists and has close relations with White yoof gang ‘Full Blooded Skips’;
8) The network has actively participated in Reclaim Australia and UPF events April-July 2015;
9) C18 was established in the UK in the late ’80s/early ’90s. Leaving aside debates re its effectiveness as a combat and political unit, it’s widely-suspected of having been infiltrated by British intelligence. See : Nick Lowles, ‘ISD – The Money Machine’, White Noise: inside the international nazi skinhead scene, Nick Lowles and Steve Silver, eds (Searchlight, 1998); M. Testa, ‘Combat 18: The Nearly Men’, Militant Anti-Fascism: A Hundred Years of Resistance (AK Press, 2015).
“Call out for an International Week for Anarchist Prisoners
In summer 2013 members of several ABC groups discussed the necessity of introducing an International Day for Anarchist Prisoners. Given there are already established dates for Political Prisoners Rights Day or Prison Justice Day, we found it important to emphasise the stories of our comrades as well. Many imprisoned anarchists will never be acknowledged as ‘political prisoners’ by formal human-rights organisations, because their sense of social justice is strictly limited to the capitalist laws which are designed to defend the State and prevent any real social change. At the same time, even within our individual communities, we know so little about the repression that exists in other countries, to say nothing of the names and cases involving many of our incarcerated comrades.
This is why we have decided to introduce an annual Week for Anarchist Prisoners on August 23-30. We chose August 23 as a starting point, because on that very day in 1927 the Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in prison. They were convicted of murdering two men during an armed robbery at a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Their arrest was a part of a bigger anti-radical campaign led by the American government. The State’s evidence against the two was almost totally non-existent and many people still today believe that they were punished for their strong anarchist beliefs.
Given the nature and diversity of anarchist groups around the globe, we have proposed a week of common action rather than a single campaign on a specific day making [it] easier for groups to be able to organise an event within a longer target period.
Therefore, we call on everyone to spread the information about the Week for Anarchist Prisoners among other groups and communities and think about organising event(s) in your city or town. The events can vary from info-evenings, screenings and benefit concerts to solidarity and direct actions. Let your imagination run free.
Check out the flyers in different languages. Please send reports of your activities to tillallarefree (A) riseup.net
• Oury Jalloh, a Sierre Leonean asylum seeker in Germany, died in a fire in police custody in Dessau in 2005, while his hands and feet were tied to a mattress.
• Nikos Romanos, a Greek anarchist and convicted armed robber whose best friend aged 15, died in his arms after being shot by police. In 2014, he went on hunger strike for his right to an education, and won.
• Mumia Abu-Jamal, an American political activist and journalist, currently serving life imprisonment without parole for murdering a police officer in Philadelphia in 1981.
• Carlo Guiliani, an Italian anarchist and ‘anti-globalisation’ protester, shot and killed by police in Genoa, Italy at the G8 summit in 2001.
• Halim Dener, a Kurdish activist shot and killed by German special police in Hannover in 1994, while putting up a poster for the ERNK, the National Front for the Liberation of Kurdistan.
• Jock Palfreeman, an Australian anti-fascist unjustly sentenced to 20 years in maximum security prison for premeditated murder in Bulgaria after intervening to protect a Roma who was being attacked by neo-Nazis.
• Joel Almgren, a Swedish anti-fascist, currently serving 6 and a half years in prison for attempted murder, after defending an anti-racist demonstration in Stockholm from a neo-Nazi attack.
Anti-Muslim group ‘Rights For Bendigo Residents’ has welcomed the organisation of an anti-Muslim rally by fascist grouplet the ‘United Patriots Front’, scheduled to take place at Bendigo Town Hall on Saturday, August 29. While Julie Hoskin & Co look forward to the arrival of a small group of neo-Nazis, fascists and White supremacists from Melbourne:
Fascist groupuscule the ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF) has declared that they’ll be rallying in Bendigo on Saturday, August 29 in order to protest the construction of a mosque. The mosque was the subject of an unsuccessful legal challenge a few weeks ago (see : Bendigo mosque survives legal challenge, gets green light for planning permit, Rania Spooner, The Age, August 6, 2015) but may be subject to further challenge in the courts.
Bendigo is of course home to ‘Reclaim Australia’ (RA) level boss Monika Evers (of ‘Stop the Mosque in Bendigo’). Evers has previously been denounced by the UPF as a liar, a thief and a traitor. Her sidekick, Julie Kendall, was present at the July 18 joint RA/UPF rally and allegedly came to the defence of Glenn Anderson (Androvski) — a local bonehead — when he was told by other ‘patriots’ to leave. Kendall & Co were also allegedly very close to members of the ‘Patriots Defence League of Australia’ (PDLA) on the day, which is interesting given that: a) the UPF is working with Ralph Cerminara’s ‘Australian Defence League’ (ADL) to organise a ‘global’ rally against Islam on October 10 and; b) the PDLA and ADL are more often than not at odds with one another (see : Authorities brace for ugly scenes as Australian ‘patriots’ plan mosque protests, Bianca Hall, The Age, August 13, 2015).
Above : Rights For Bendigo Residents thank convicted anti-Semite Neil Erikson and the UPF for their support.
Whatever position Evers/’Stop the Mosque in Bendigo’ group take with regards the UPF rally, ‘Rights For Bendigo Residents’ (RBR: see : Bendigo mosque protester claims other mosque objectors face death threats, intimidation, Andrew Jefferson, Herald Sun, December 3, 2014) has welcomed the support of the UPF. By the same token, the UPF is happy to promote the funding of RBR via the ‘Robert Balzola and Associates Law Practice Trust Account’: Balzola has been actively law-talking on the part of anti-Muslim activists for some years (see : Nile party behind anti-Muslim school rally, Wendy Frew, The Sydney Morning Herald, December 22, 2007).
Such expressions of solidarity are somewhat unusual, but by no means unique. Pastor Danny Nalliah of Catch the Fire Ministries/Rise Up Australia Party has happily worked alongside neo-Nazis and fascists for many months now — hatred of Jews, Holocaust denial and Hitler worship are evidently all things good Christians can support if it suits their purposes. Of course, not all Christians are happy to jump into bed with neo-Nazis and fascists. Indeed, St Paul’s Anglican Church in Bendigo has objected to its use in a propaganda video produced by Melbourne neo-Nazi and UPF leader Blair Cottrell:
St Paul’s Cathedral is being used (without permission) in a video to promote an anti Islam protest in Bendigo later this month. I am not sure what to think about this person filming outside our church. He thinks our posters are politically far left; I reckon they are Christian.
We do not endorse his message. We will stick with the Christian Gospel. And just to be clear that means God’s love for everyone including those of other faiths, welcoming the outsider and caring for the neglected, including refugees.
Presumably, this means that the Anglican Church is now a hotbed of Communism. Which means I should probably update Trot Guide sometime soon …
A band from Melbourne called Sexxx likes to play with swastikas it seems. They were gonna play a gig at Mr Boogie Man BAR on Saturday night (as part of their brief why haven’t you got aids? tour australia) but it may be that they’ve been kicked off the bill.
*shrugs*
Possibly another band to keep an eye on as others have raised various other allegations with regards their supposed dickheadedness …
Update (August 15, 2015) : “The action concluded Thursday evening. MLDC workers are now back at work following a negotiated outcome with Woolworths management.”
Update (August 13, 2015) : While liquor outlets owned by Woolworths are running low on stocks, you can donate in support of striking workers here: Melbourne Liquor DC Fighting Fund.
The demands of the striking workers are reasonably straightforward:
1) Woolworths adhere to a previous agreement that it will not employ labour hire workers @ MLDC and;
2) There is to be no retribution on striking workers. See : Indefinite strike at Woolworths warehouse over labour hire, Sue Bolton, Green Left Weekly, August 11, 2015 | ‘Nothing in, nothing out’ at Woolworths picket, Steph Price, Red Flag, August 11, 2015.
mAAAAAAd props to the workers at the MLDC for taking action in defence of their rights and in resisting the increasing casualisation of the workforce. Support from the community is welcome at the picket so if you can, pop down to 40-58 Leakes Road, Laverton and say g’day!
Two Greek anarchists are making molotov cocktails. One says to the other: "So who will we throw these at then?" The other replies: "What are you, some kind of fucking intellectual?"
